


Lacuna

by AnneScriblerian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Drabble Sequence, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneScriblerian/pseuds/AnneScriblerian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything Severus tries makes it worse. Then he figures it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lacuna

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2010 for Snarry LDWS Round Four Week One.  
> Prompt:  
> *Genre/Cliché: time travel  
> *Word Prompt: lunula - something shaped like a narrow crescent, as the small, pale area at the base of the fingernail  
> *Word Count: maximum of 300

_A/N: "Lacuna" means lack or gap. Au Clair de la Lune is a traditional French folk song._

_Prête-moi ta plume  
Pour écrire un mot_

_(Lend me your pen, to write a word.)_

“What are you brooding about, Severus?”

Severus Snape was startled.

“What’s wrong? You’re never this jumpy.”

Severus gave a rare smile. It worked. Harry was distracted, and Severus took advantage of his shock to kiss him senseless. As he maneuvered his husband into the bedroom, Severus worked carefully to bury his own memories. If only they would stay dead.

_Ma chandelle est morte  
Je n'ai plus de feu_

_(My candle is dead, I have no more fire)_

It had been horrible. There were other ways to describe it, with varying facts and levels of detail. But “horrible” worked for Severus. He preferred not to dwell on the specifics. The world without Harry Potter had been a nightmare. Voldemort wasn’t the half of it.

Severus had thought that some sort of dramatic change had been necessary. Every such change led to worse and worse results. He didn’t join Voldemort; the man had no check on his madness. He didn’t tell Voldemort the prophecy; Harry died in a car wreck along with his parents. He didn’t kill Dumbledore; the Headmaster took Hogwarts with him in his insane final moments.

Obviously, Severus had known that early hurts shape one. Just as damage to the lunula would cause deformity in the nail forever, a broken child led to a stunted adult. He just didn’t know that this small, inevitable fact was the key to everything.

_Ouvre-moi ta porte  
Pour l'amour de Dieu_

_(Open up your door, for the love of God)_

A desperate trip to a relatively happier time had made everything that followed possible. When Severus went back to Harry Potter’s first night at Hogwarts, he smiled at the boy.


End file.
